Jack Tretton leaves Sony after 19 year stint (and much gesticulation)

"The future will only get brighter for PlayStation Nation"

When it comes to putting in a shift, Jack Tretton is one of the industry's poster boys. After joining Sony back in 1995 and heading up SCEA, he was instrumental in bringing the PlayStation brand Westwards and famed for his emphatic E3 appearances. However, he's now decided to move onto pastures new, with Sony Network Entertainment COO Shawn Layden assuming the position.

"Working at SCEA for the past 19 years has been the most rewarding experience of my career," said Tretton in the official press release. "Although I will deeply miss the talented team at SCEA and the passion demonstrated every day by our fans, I'm very excited about starting the next chapter of my career. I want to thank the employees, partners and customers for their tireless commitment to the PlayStation brand and, of course, to our fans who have pushed us to new heights of innovation and entertainment over the past two decades.

"I leave PlayStation in a position of considerable strength and the future will only get brighter for PlayStation Nation."

Despite masterminding the PS2's western success, I daresay that many gamers will mainly remember Tretton's Sony years for thistriumphant piece of showmanship. And all the semaphore. Frankly, E3 might not be the same without him.

A bit gutted about this, Sony's E3 keynote won't be the same. Tretton was one of the few Execs I didn't mind watching present. He seemed quite enthusiastic when he was presenting, but didn't overdo it and try to act cool and hip like most other key-note speakers at E3. Not to mention after the PSn outage, he seemed genuinely embarrassed, humble and apologetic. Even if it was all just a big act, he at least cared enough to make it convincing.